We’re one step closer to seeing the end of this mess. The owners ratified the settlement tonight with a 31-0 vote, and now we’re waiting on the NFLPA*.
Category: NFL (Page 115 of 1282)
The New York Daily News is reporting that the Mets and Giants are having difficulty matching up on a trade involving Carlos Beltran. That’s not surprising considering the two clubs haven’t been a good match from the start.
The Giants need offense and Beltran could provide it. But that’s where the fit between the defending champs and the outfielder starts and stops. The Giants don’t mind paying the $6 million still left on Beltran’s contract, as long as they don’t have to give up a top prospect in the process.
But that’s exactly what New York is looking for. The name Zach Wheeler was thrown around a lot last week on New York sports talk radio. But the Giants aren’t going to part with their top pitching prospect, even with the three-headed monster of young arms in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner already on the big league roster. The Mets (and every other team for that matter) can also forgot about acquiring first base prospect Brandon Belt as well.
New York would be better off sending Beltran to the Phillies for Domonic Brown, assuming that trade scenario is a possibility. (Rumor has it that it is.) Philadelphia’s window to win is now and adding another bat like Beltran could move the Phillies closer to another World Series appearance. Thus, they wouldn’t mind parting with one of their top young players to add someone that can help them win in the present.
The possibility of the Giants still landing Beltran is alive and well, but I just don’t see it. What I do see is more Jeff Keppinger-type trades in the Giants’ near future. And with that in mind, I’m willing to bet that Pudge Rodriguez is a Giant before Carlos Beltran is.
Thursday Quick-Hitters:
– I was so relieved when I saw the photos of Kenny Britt being handcuffed onstage at one of Britney Spears’ recent concerts. If there’s anyone that deserves a little “me time” right now, it’s Kenneth Britt.
– If I’m Steve Williams, I’m looking at Tiger Woods today and saying: “Really? You think I’ve been the problem?”
– Kevin Kolb is apparently looking at real estate in Arizona. In other news, Nnamdi Asomugha is looking at real estate in Hollywood Hills, Manhattan, London, Paris, Brussels, Chicago, South Beach and just for the hell of it, a small place in Cabo San Lucas.
– Does the Giants front office just sit back and laugh when they hear that Osi Umenyiora wants to be paid like a top five defensive end? The guy is a fantastic pass rusher but someone please explain to me how he does for the Giants what Julius Peppers, Dwight Freeney, Jared Allen, Mario Williams or even his own teammate Justin Tuck does for their respective teams.
– Hawaii turned down Tate Forcier because he didn’t meet the university’s standards for academics. Maybe Forcier should give Ohio State a call. I hear they need a quarterback and they could always put him on the Andy Katzenmoyer academic program, which consists of beginners golf and basket weaving.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune stated on Tuesday that receiver Vincent Jackson will play under the $11.3 million franchise tag for the Chargers in 2011.
From Rotoworld.com:
“Vincent Jackson will be a Charger, and that’s the bottom line,” Acee said. Jackson “very much” wants to stay in San Diego, though Acee stops short of predicting that one of the “hardest working and most intelligent” players he’s ever covered will end up inking a long-term deal with the Bolts. The Boston Globe’s Greg Bedard hears that Jackson, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady have “softened their stance” on free agency after Tuesday’s public backlash.
That “backlash” included Vikings punter Chris Kluwe posting this on Twitter: “Sigh, and once again greed is the operative byword. Congrats Brees, Manning, Mankins, and Jackson for being ‘that guy’. #douchebags.”
What has angered guys like Kluwe is how both Manning and Brees requested exemptions from the franchise tag as part of the NFL’s new CBA, with Jackson and Mankins essentially doing the same thing. This has led some to believe that the four players would hold up the labor negotiations in order to negotiate their own side deals, which obviously looks mega selfish on the part of Manning, Brees, Mankins and Jackson. But Adam Schefter said that he doubts these “side deals” would impede the progress that the players and owners have made in constructing a new CBA deal.
Getting back to Jackson, if he ever winds up hitting the open market he should cash in big time. Receivers that have soft hands, are willing to block, and can stretch defenses vertically don’t fall off trees. All things considered, he might be the most valuable receiver in the league. (That is, when he’s actually on the field and not either suspended or holding out in a contract dispute.)
Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal tweets that NFL free agency is expected to begin roughly one week after the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been signed.
For now, the expectation is that an agreement will be done this Thursday. Teams will get three days to study the new labor rules, followed by three days to sign undrafted rookies and “keep their own.” Free agency should start on the seventh day, now estimated at July 28 (not July 25). Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post describes free agency as “a fire drill. … Packing four months of moves into about four days.” The month of August will be jam-packed with NFL news.
This is why teams with new coaching staffs or ones that will be relying on rookies to contribute will have a tough time competing this year. Usually teams have months to get new players up to speed, and now this year they’ll only have weeks. It wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of teams that made the playoffs last year do so again in 2011. (Assuming of course that those teams’ rosters only need minor tweaking.)
So the NFL lockout is coming to an end.
Outstanding.
Fantastic.
Hooray.
I’m overjoyed.
Actually, I was overjoyed when I wrote this piece last week. It was about how five months of frustration will vanish as soon as the owners and players agree to a new CBA. Once that puppy has been signed, free agency will begin and all will be right in the NFL world again.
Then I got to thinking: Hey wait a minute, just what did the fans get out of all this?
After months of listening to the owners and players bicker, all fans are left with is football. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a nice parting gift but we weren’t the ones who were so willing to take it away in the first place. It’s not like the fans went up to the owners and said, “We’re going to suspend football unless you reduce the price of tickets from three vital organs and $10,000 to something a little more cost effective.”
No, we just wanted football to carry on as normal and we were willing to keep spending in a down economy in order to make that happen. So I ask again: What do we get at the end of all this?
The truth is, the fans will once again walk away as losers. Sure, free agency will start again (love that free agency!) and the games will soon follow. But are the owners dropping ticket prices? What about beer or other concession items? Is parking at the stadiums going to be cheaper? I know that some teams were willing to give fans a break on season tickets with the threat of the lockout lasting all year, but what happens when the season goes on as normal? Will the owners give fans a deal just for suffering through months of their greediness?
I love the NFL and I will return. The moment the lockout lifts I’ll be one of the many people pounding the daily rumor mill to see who is signing with whom. But not once did I read about what the league planned to do for us. Granted, maybe teams have something in store for fans that I’m not privy to, but I doubt it. With the league expected to double its profits over the next two years, I highly doubt that anyone is willing to give fans a break. No, the only thing I envision happening when the lockout ends is the league standing there with its hand stretched back out.
I’m not suggesting a mutiny here, but as fans we need to remember who this lockout was all about and it certainly wasn’t us. At the end of the day, the only thing we’re going to receive is the opportunity to continue to line the pockets of those who were at the root of our frustration these past five months.
Hooray.
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